The first round of the 2016 NHL draft is in the books, and the Toronto Maple Leafs have themselves a new future top-line center in Auston Matthews.
As expected, the big pivot from Arizona was selected first overall, followed up by Finnish winger Patrik Laine at No. 2 to the Winnipeg Jets and versatile forward Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Columbus Blue Jackets with the third selection.
Overall, Finns were popular picks on Friday, as were players who grew up in the St. Louis area and players from the west coast of Canada, out in British Columbia.
The biggest trades of the day happened early, when the Montreal Canadiens shipped out Lars Eller to the Washington Capitals in order to acquire Andrew Shaw from the Chicago Blackhawks. The Calgary Flames also filled a need in goal by bringing in Brian Elliott from the St. Louis Blues and the Detroit Red Wings put themselves in position to compete for Steven Stamkos by moving Pavel Datsyuk's contract to the Arizona Coyotes.
Round 2 of the draft kicks off at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday. Join us here again at that time for all the intrigue.
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Article written by Carol Schram
NHL Draft 2016: Live Results, Picks and Grades for Round 1
June 24th, 2016 by Carol Schram Leave a reply »
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